Spotlight Series: Holding On – the Troubled Life of Billy Kerr

First of all, thanks to all the players that came out for our demo night this week! We played Holding On: The Troubled Life of Billy Kerr, a co-operative story driven game where workers play as a hospital staff to provide appropriate care for Billy. This game supports 1-4 players, and each scenario lasts about an hour. Over ten replayable scenarios, the goal is to keep Billy stable while gaining his trust to uncover his troubled past to confront his regrets. This week, we played the first scenario, which was an introduction to the game as well as its mechanics.

Each player takes the role of “shift manager” in rotating order. The shift manager begins the scenario by reading the indicated cards, and completing any additional setup if prompted to do so. They then begin the day, which consists of three shifts. During each shift, the shift manager assigns nurses to each of the three shifts. The players are normal nurses, which can be used to work shifts, inquire about Billy’s past, and can perform “call actions” during later scenarios. The game balances the requirements of filling shifts and making sure Billy is medically okay while delving into his past to help find his next of kin. At the end of the day, players share any information they learned about Billy and place their memory cards in a timeline. Notches on the card reveal their place in the timeline. Nurses are returned to the break room or sent home to relieve stress (much like real life). The shift manager clipboard is rotated in order to begin the next day. This is done until the objective is completed or failed.

We hope to see new and returning players join us for Tokyo Highway, a recently released dexterity game! Use tweezers to build the highways and pillars of Tokyo to place all of your cars in order to win the game.